Babar Azam, the ex-Pakistan captain, was in for a hard time, as fans brutally trolled him for his slow-paced knock in Pakistan’s loss to New Zealand in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 opening match on February 19.

New Zealand was asked to bat first by Mohammad Rizwan who won the toss. Tom Latham top-scored with 118* with 10 fours and 3 sixes, while Will Young made 107 with 12 fours and 1 six, the tournament's first century. The fireworks in the last few overs came from Glenn Phillips, who scored 61 in 39 balls with three fours and four sixes.

In 50 overs, New Zealand scored 320/5. Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah both claimed two wickets for Pakistan.

In response, while Salman Ali Agha (42 in 28 balls) and Khushdil Shah (69 in 49 balls) tried to get the chase going, Babar Azam, on the other hand, played a sedating knock of 64 runs in 90 balls with 1 six and 6 fours to his name.

In the first 10 overs of the run-chase, Pakistan was only 22/2 with Babar Azam on 12* off 27 balls and Mohammad Rizwan at 3* off 14 deliveries. Then after 15 overs, they only reached 49/2 with Babar having registered 22* off 37 deliveries, and then in 20 overs, they got to 66/2.

Babar was eventually dismissed in the final ball of the 34th over as the home side fell to 153/6.

Pakistan only managed 260 runs and lost the game by 60 runs in the end and handed New Zealand two valuable points.

After Pakistan’s loss, Babar Azam was brutally trolled for his slow knock on social media.

Here are some posts: